Mary Lou is the name on everybody's lips in Dublin this month. Even people who have had their heads in the sand for the last year and were unaware that Sinn Féin was running Mary Lou McDonald for the EU elections can't have failed to notice the thousands of colourful, eye-catching posters which now adorn practically every lamp-post in the city. Free article

BY JUSTIN MORAN - The Irish media is a curious beast. On Tuesday of this week they attended a Sinn Féin press conference to launch the party's local candidates for Dublin and Dublin Sinn Féin's manifesto for the city. Running 30 candidates across 25 wards in four local authorities and with fear of Sinn Féin's electoral growth reaching hysterical levels in the capital, a neutral observer might think the media would have an interest in this. Free article

BY EAMONN NOLAN - If Noel Dempsey and Martin Cullen worked for a private company, they would not alone have been sacked, but in all likelihood would have been charged with criminal negligence. Contracts were signed for an untested, untried, computer system. Total costs to date have been estimated at upwards of €60 million (Mícheál Martin says that €50 million would allow him open all the unused beds in our hospitals). Free article

Tyrone MLA Barry McElduff is Sinn Féin's national spokesperson on All-Ireland Integration. In an interview with An Phoblacht, he talks about his work and its importance given the current catatonic state of the Peace Process. Barry was speaking after a consultation meeting in Stormont with community groups from all over Ireland working in the field of disability, listening to their views on Sinn Féin's Rights for All charter. Free article

An Phoblacht's famous weekly satirical column. Read on... Free article

Fish and fishing has always been a topical subject for discussion, and AN DRAOI RUA isn't averse to having a go. Free article

Ten years ago this week, the UVF came south and attempted to blow up a republican function in the heart of Dublin. They were prevented from inflicting mass slaughter due to the intervention of a quick-acting IRA Volunteer, Martin 'Doco' Doherty. Free article